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Comparison

LearnClash vs Trivia Crack: Best Quiz Duel App [August 2026]

LearnClash vs Trivia Crack August 2026: any-topic ELO duels and SRS with zero ads, vs the $6.99 Premium app with energy gates and declining sentiment.

David Moosmann
Founder & Developer··23 min read

David built LearnClash after 12 years of daily quiz duels with his mum to combine the fun of competition with real spaced-repetition learning. He writes about competitive learning, spaced repetition, and the product decisions behind LearnClash.

Updated Fact-checked
Side-by-side comparison of LearnClash (any topic, ELO rankings, spaced repetition, ad-free) vs Trivia Crack (6 fixed categories, crown collection, $6.99 Premium with energy gates)

Trivia Crack once held the #1 free spot on the US App Store for 60 straight days, breaking the 38-day record Draw Something had owned since 2012. That was early 2015. The six-category crown wheel from that run is still the game you download today.

In August 2026, LearnClash generates questions on any topic at three difficulty levels, ranks players across 8 ELO tiers from Iron up to Phoenix (2400+), and bakes 3-stage spaced repetition into every game mode. Trivia Crack’s recent bets went elsewhere: VR on Meta Quest, an AI agent named Willy, a creator program, a Retro rename for the sequel, and energy gates inside the $6.99 Premium app.

This page compares questions, duels, ranking, retention, pricing, and the 2024-2026 pivots. Every price and store number carries the date it was pulled; the standing method is in how we test. If flashcards are also on your shortlist, our 11 alternatives to Quizlet covers that lane.

Quick verdict: LearnClash wins on learning depth, ELO ranking, and a truly ad-free and energy-free free tier. Trivia Crack still wins on nostalgia, player-base size, and the casual six-category wheel. Pick LearnClash if you want to learn while you compete; pick Trivia Crack for low-stakes wheel-spin trivia, and skip the $6.99 Premium app until Etermax pulls back the energy gates.

LearnClash vs Trivia Crack at a Glance

LearnClash and Trivia Crack took very different paths. LearnClash is a competitive learning app with any-topic questions and skill-based ELO ranking. Trivia Crack is a casual party game built around fixed categories and a crown wheel. The table below sums up the major differences as of August 2026.

At-a-glance dashboard comparing LearnClash 2026 (any topic, ELO Iron-Phoenix 2400+, 3-stage SRS every mode, ad-free, no energy gates, mobile-first) vs Trivia Crack 2013 Etermax (6 fixed categories, crown collection, no learning tools, frequent video ads on free, $6.99 Premium with energy gates, mobile+VR) Two apps, two philosophies: LearnClash ships learning depth; Trivia Crack ships casual nostalgia plus a 2026 monetization layer.

FeatureLearnClashTrivia Crack
Launched20252013, Buenos Aires (Etermax, founded 2009)
Lifetime downloadsGrowing600 million+ for the flagship (Etermax partner materials, Feb 2026); 800M+ across Etermax’s games (GamesBeat, 2024)
Company scalePrivate (Pluxia GmbH)Private; Etermax claims 150M annual users (GamesBeat, 2024)
TopicsAny topic you can imagine6 fixed categories
Questions34,157 validated and growing (Jul 21, 2026 export), generated on demandUser-submitted, 50M+ across the franchise (GamesBeat, 2024)
Duel format18 questions across 6 varied topicsTurn-based with wheel spin
RankingELO system (Iron to Phoenix 2400+)Crown collection
Spaced repetition3-stage SRS in all modesNone
Solo Mode6-question solo sessions with SRSNone
QuestsDaily quests + cooperative friend questsWeekly challenges
AI tutorClash mascot, chat about any topicWilly (social agent on Instagram/X, not tutor)
Deep statsPer-topic accuracy, battle record, H2HBasic stats
StreaksDaily streaks with freeze protectionBasic streaks
Free-tier adsNone, fully ad-free on every tierFrequent video ads (Marlvel, May 7, 2026: ads “after every question or turn”)
Free-tier play capsNo lives or energy anywhereLives system; lives packs ($2.99 to $19.99) among the listed IAPs
Paid-tier energy gatesNoneYes, on the $6.99 Premium app (Marlvel report, Jul 29, 2026)
PriceFree with no ads + Premium ($7.99/mo, $59.99/yr, 7-day trial on the annual plan)Free with ads; Premium app $6.99 one-time (iOS); Prime sub $4.99/mo or $39.99/yr; Retro VIP $1.99/mo
PlatformsiOS, AndroidiOS, Android, Web, Meta Quest VR

The verdict bar above the table is the one-line answer; the rest of this page is the why.

Questions: Any Topic, Any Difficulty

LearnClash lets you search for any topic and play right away, with questions matched to your skill level. Type “quantum entanglement,” “Renaissance art,” or “Australian wildlife” and get real questions at easy, medium, and hard. Each one passes an automated fact check before it lands in your duel or Solo session.

Infographic comparing LearnClash with infinite topics at every difficulty versus Trivia Crack's fixed pool of 6 categories: Science, Art, Sports, Geography, Entertainment, History LearnClash creates questions on any topic at multiple difficulty levels, while Trivia Crack is limited to six fixed categories.

LearnClashTrivia Crack
SourceAI-generated, validatedUser-submitted via Question Factory
TopicsAny topic you can imagine6 fixed categories
DifficultyEasy, medium, hard (ELO-calibrated)No difficulty levels
Fresh contentOn-demand generation, always new50M+ pooled questions, finite per category

The question system chases two things: topic coverage and difficulty calibration. Since games are ELO-matched, the ELO rating system doubles as a difficulty dial. A player rated 1700 (Platinum I) sees harder questions than a player at 1000 (Silver II) on the same topic, so beginners get a fair shot and experts get a real challenge.

Trivia Crack draws on a user-submitted pool across six fixed categories. Etermax has said the Question Factory crowdsourced over 50 million questions across the franchise (GamesBeat, 2024). That is a big number, but it is bounded by category: play long enough and repeats arrive, and niche subjects like paleontology, crypto, or K-pop history simply are not in the wheel. LearnClash’s catalog runs the other way. The July 21, 2026 production export counts 34,157 validated questions across 655 topics, with new ones generated on demand for any topic you type. For a sample of the output, try our 43 general knowledge questions or 37 science trivia questions; if you would rather build a quiz set yourself, our trivia maker comparison covers the tools that do it.

In our experience, the hardest part wasn’t making questions. It was checking them. Every generated question runs through an automated fact check first, and wrong or fuzzy ones get cut before anyone sees them. That is why accuracy holds up even on narrow topics, and it is the main reason any-topic coverage beats a static six-category pool for anyone who cares what they are actually answering.

Multiplayer: 18-Question Duels vs Random Wheel Spins

A LearnClash duel is 6 rounds of 3 questions each, 18 questions total across 6 different topics. You and your opponent pick each round’s topic from a dealt hand of choices (Premium adds a fourth option), and the system refuses topic repeats within one duel, so a single match might cover history, astronomy, cooking, sports, music, and biology. Each duel runs on a 72-hour turn window, so you can play across time zones at your own pace.

LearnClash duel with 18 questions across 6 topic groups (history, science, cooking, sports, music, art) and 72h timer vs Trivia Crack spinning wheel with 6 fixed categories and crown icons LearnClash structures duels as 18 questions across 6 diverse topics, while Trivia Crack uses a random wheel spin to select categories.

LearnClashTrivia Crack
Format18 questions across 6 topicsWheel-spin category selection
Variety6 distinct topics per duelRandom from 6 fixed categories
TimingAsynchronous (72h window)Asynchronous (turn-based)
OutcomeSkill-based (diverse knowledge wins)Luck-dependent (wheel determines category)

We tested several duel formats during development, and the 6-topic structure hit the sweet spot: broad enough that one-trick players can’t dominate, focused enough per round (3 questions per topic, 45 seconds each) to test what you know. LearnClash also supports topic-locked duels where all 18 questions cover a single topic, which is the mode friends use for deep-dive challenges.

Trivia Crack uses a wheel-spin mechanic instead. The spin picks which of the six categories you answer next, which adds a gambling layer: a history expert might land on Sports three times in a row. It keeps games loose and social, and to be fair, plenty of players like that looseness. It just means the outcome often hinges on luck rather than knowledge, which is the opposite of what a competitive format needs.

🌍 Take on a geography duel now

Ranking: ELO Ratings vs Crown Collection

LearnClash ranks players with an ELO system inspired by chess. New players start at 1300 ELO (Gold II, the ladder average) and calibrate across 8 tiers: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Emerald, Diamond, Phoenix (2400+). Trivia Crack uses a crown collection mechanic with no skill measurement.

Infographic comparing LearnClash ELO tier system with 8 tiers from Iron to Phoenix (2400+), starting at ELO 1300 (Gold II) versus Trivia Crack crown collection mechanic (collect all 6 category crowns to win) LearnClash ranks players by skill using 8 ELO tiers, while Trivia Crack uses crown collection with no skill measurement.

LearnClashTrivia Crack
SystemELO rating (1300 start, 8 tiers)Crown collection
PersistencePermanent, cumulativePer-game crowns
Tiers8 (Iron to Phoenix)None
MatchmakingELO-balanced opponentsRandom

The rating math underneath is Glicko-2, the same family Lichess runs, displayed as a familiar ELO-style number. Early duels move your rating in big steps while the system is still unsure of you; after roughly 10 duels the swings settle, and an even-rated result is worth about 20 rating points either way. Matchmaking then scores open duels on a composite of ELO proximity and topic overlap; in our production data, matching within 80 ELO trims the higher-rated player’s win rate from 67.5% across all decided duels to 58.3%. See the breakdown of the ELO rating system for the math, or the elo-matched matchmaking win-rate data for the live distribution.

“The rating of a chess player is a number which may be used as an index of his proficiency. Its purpose is to provide a fair method of handicapping.” Arpad Elo, The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present (1978)

Trivia Crack’s crown system is simpler: win games to earn a crown in each of the six categories, collect all six to win. It is fun, and it asks nothing of you. But it also tells you nothing. A player who wins 10 easy games looks identical to one who wins 10 hard ones, there are no tiers, and matchmaking is random. ELO is what makes every duel count: a win against a higher-rated player earns more points than a win against someone below you, and climbing from Iron toward Phoenix tracks real growth rather than accumulated playtime.

Learning Value: Spaced Repetition Everywhere vs None

LearnClash builds lasting knowledge through 3-stage spaced repetition that works across every game mode, not just Solo Mode. Any question you see in a duel or Solo session joins the review cycle, and questions come back at growing intervals (7 days from Learning to Known, 90 days from Known to Mastered) until you’ve locked them in. The loop is not hypothetical: per the July 21, 2026 production export, 128,085 tracked cards sit across 1,161 learners, first-encounter accuracy sits at 56.9%, and 93.8% of SRS-tracked first answers happen inside duels rather than Solo Mode. Regular duel play is the study plan.

We built spaced repetition into the core for a simple reason: testing effect research shows retrieval-based study roughly doubles long-term retention versus rereading. The dedicated Solo Mode adds a focused surface on top, 6-question sessions on any topic with progress tracked across three mastery levels (Learning, Known, Mastered). Pair Solo sessions with techniques like memory palace and chunking and the loop closes. And if you’ve seen the “1, 3, 7, 21” interval pattern floating around memory blogs, here is why that’s not real spaced repetition.

“The spacing effect is one of the most well-established findings in experimental psychology.” Cepeda et al., Psychological Bulletin (2006)

Infographic showing LearnClash 3-stage spaced repetition learning curve: Learning (7-day review cycle), Known (90-day review cycle), Mastered (exits review pool), with rising retention curve LearnClash tracks knowledge across three mastery levels using spaced repetition, building permanent retention across all game modes.

LearnClashTrivia Crack
Spaced repetition3-stage SRS in all modesNone
Mastery tracking3 levels (Learning, Known, Mastered)None
Solo Mode6-question SRS solo sessionsNone
Knowledge retentionCompounds over timeNo retention mechanism

Trivia Crack has no spaced repetition, no mastery tracking, and no way to study a specific topic. You play, you answer, you move on. There is no mechanism to revisit questions you got wrong: once you answer, it’s gone, and the forgetting curve erases most of what you saw within a week. LearnClash routes every missed question back through the 7-day and 90-day checkpoints until it sticks. A miss also drops a card exactly one stage rather than resetting it, so mastery stays meaningful without punishing a bad day. For a fun-first app, none of this matters. For anyone who wants the trivia to leave a residue, it is the whole difference.

Pricing and Ads: Ad-Free and Energy-Free vs Paid-Plus-Energy

LearnClash is fully ad-free on every tier, including the free plan, and there are zero energy gates. The free tier ships daily duels, all topics, ELO rankings, and full 3-stage spaced repetition. Premium ($7.99/month or $59.99/year, with a 7-day free trial on the annual plan) unlocks unlimited Solo sessions, expanded Clash Chat, advanced per-topic stats, and cosmetic rewards.

Since I’m the one who set these limits, let me list them myself rather than have a review site do it. The LearnClash free tier caps things in exactly four places: Solo is one free session a day, Clash Chat gives 30 intro messages and then one a day, your first 3 topic adds are instant and then it’s one a day, and free accounts hold 1 streak freeze to Premium’s 3. What I refused to meter is the play itself: no lives, no energy, no ad breaks, and nothing mid-duel that asks for money. Subscriptions are the only revenue source. There are no consumable packs in the app at all, because selling right answers is where trivia apps go wrong.

LearnClash free tier with zero ads and zero energy gates, Premium at $7.99/mo or $59.99/yr with a 7-day trial on the annual plan, vs Trivia Crack free tier with frequent video ads, the $6.99 one-time Premium app with energy gates, the Prime subscription at $4.99, and Trivia Crack Retro VIP at $1.99/mo LearnClash is ad-free and energy-free on every tier; Trivia Crack’s free tier runs frequent video ads, and its $6.99 Premium app still hits play caps per Marlvel’s 2026 sentiment reporting.

LearnClashTrivia Crack
Free-tier adsNoneFrequent video ads (Marlvel, May 7, 2026: “after every question or turn”)
Free-tier play capsNo lives or energyLives system; lives packs ($2.99 to $19.99) among the listed IAPs
Premium subscription$7.99/moTrivia Crack Prime: $4.99/mo
Premium yearly$59.99 (7-day free trial on the annual plan)Prime annual $39.99 (per Etermax’s support pricing, checked Aug 12, 2026)
Premium one-timeN/A$6.99 standalone Trivia Crack Premium app (iOS)
Trivia Crack RetroN/AVIP Membership $1.99/mo; “No more Ads!” $4.99
Premium energy gatesNoneYes, on the $6.99 Premium app (Marlvel, Jul 29, 2026)
Paid featuresUnlimited Solo, Clash Chat, stats, cosmeticsMostly ad relief plus consumable packs

Trivia Crack runs frequent video ads on the free tier. Marlvel’s May 7, 2026 report on the free app names excessive ad frequency the #1 churn driver, with ads reported “after every question or turn,” and a featured review on the App Store listing echoes it: “there are so many ads that pop up in the middle of you playing” (listing checked August 12, 2026). Etermax’s monetization map now spans at least five paths: the free flagship’s ad load plus lives, credit, and Right Answer packs that top out at $99.99; the standalone Trivia Crack Premium app at $6.99 one-time, which itself sells credit, coin, and right-answer packs; the Trivia Crack Prime subscription at $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year; Trivia Crack Retro’s VIP Membership at $1.99 a month plus a $4.99 “No more Ads!” buy; and Trivia Crack World on Meta Quest at $10. None of them add learning tools, stats, or rank. LearnClash sells exactly one upgrade and shows zero ads on any tier, and its free tier carries more learning machinery (ELO, SRS, all topics) than any paid Trivia Crack SKU. For a similar pricing teardown in the classroom-quiz space, see the Kahoot vs Gimkit comparison.

Trivia Crack Premium 2026: The Energy-System Sentiment Crisis

The biggest story in Trivia Crack’s 2026 is user backlash against energy mechanics inside the $6.99 Premium app: a paid product that still hits play caps. The sentiment numbers tell the story, and they have not improved since spring.

Infographic showing Trivia Crack Premium $6.99 paid app with energy meter at 0 of 5 lives and "buy more lives" prompt, vs LearnClash free tier with daily duels, a clear ELO ladder from Iron to Phoenix, and a 3-stage spaced repetition loop Trivia Crack Premium charges $6.99 upfront and still gates extended play behind energy mechanics, while LearnClash’s free tier ships daily duels with no ads.

LearnClash freeLearnClash PremiumTrivia Crack Premium
Upfront price$0$7.99/mo or $59.99/yr$6.99 one-time (iOS)
Energy mechanicsNoneNoneYes (2026)
AdsNoneNoneNone
Play capsNo lives or energyNoneYes, per Marlvel’s Jul 29, 2026 report
Reviewed sentimentn/an/a”Declining” trajectory (Marlvel, Jul 29, 2026)

Marlvel’s sentiment-intel report on Trivia Crack Premium, last refreshed July 29, 2026, logs the product at 4.6 out of 5 from 187K aggregate reviews, while the Premium app holds 4.7 from about 101K ratings on the US App Store (checked August 12, 2026). Healthy stars, in other words. The verdict underneath them is harsher: a declining sentiment trajectory, an overall user mood the report labels upset, and a named driver: the energy system restricting gameplay inside a product people already paid for. The report calls the move a strategic error that undercuts the premium positioning and churns exactly the long-term players a paid app depends on.

The pattern is familiar to anyone who has watched mobile monetization since 2023. Energy mechanics work in free-to-play because the player accepts the loop when nothing was paid up front. Stacked onto a paid Premium tier, they read as bait-and-switch: users bought their way out of free-tier limits and the limits followed them in. Etermax’s own support center still hosts an article titled “I bought the ad-free version, why am I still seeing ads?” (live as of August 12, 2026); its answer is that the paid ad-free version is a separate app, so anyone still playing the free one keeps seeing ads until they switch over.

Two things worth conceding here. Etermax is still actively shipping: a Premium bug-fix build landed the same week as this check, so this is a maintained app with a monetization design its paying users dislike, not an abandoned one. And the commercial position remains strong: the free flagship sat at #7 in the US iOS Trivia chart on August 12, 2026, with the Premium app near the top of the paid side. Sentiment crises and healthy charts can coexist for a long time. What they cannot do is add a learning loop, and nothing in the $6.99 purchase buys back the play time its own energy meter takes away.

Beyond Mobile: Trivia Crack’s 2024-2026 Pivots

LearnClash is built for focused async mobile learning on iOS and Android. Trivia Crack spent 2024 to 2026 chasing new form factors and monetization angles while the core quiz stayed frozen. The five-vector pivot map looks like this.

Trivia Crack timeline showing the 2024 to 2026 Etermax pivots: November 2024 Trivia Crack World on Meta Quest VR, December 2025 Trivia Crack Retro rename, February 2026 AI character agent Willy on Instagram and X (Saga partnership), 2026 Premium energy systems sentiment crisis, 2026 Creators Program for influencers, vs LearnClash 2026 any-topic AI-generated questions with 3-stage spaced repetition Trivia Crack’s 2024-2026 roadmap shipped five pivots: VR, a Retro rename, an AI character agent, Premium energy systems, and a creator program. None of them touched the learning loop.

WhenEtermax moveWhat it addedWhat it didn’t add
Nov 2024Trivia Crack World on Meta Quest VR ($10)New platform, immersive park, character islandsNo spaced repetition, no learning loop
Dec 2025Trivia Crack 2 renamed Trivia Crack Retro”Home of the classic experience,” progress preservedNo learning loop
Feb 2026AI agent Willy (Saga partnership)Instagram and X social presence, autonomous postingNo tutor, no explanation of wrong answers
2026Premium energy systemsMore monetization pathsTrust erosion (declining trajectory per Marlvel, Jul 2026)
2026Trivia Crack for Creators (“Curiosity Creators”)Creator tools for personalized trivia contentNo new quiz mechanics, no SRS

Trivia Crack World landed on Meta Quest in late November 2024 as a $10 VR title: an immersive amusement park with character islands and live multiplayer. Polished and pretty as it is, the crown wheel, six categories, and user-submitted question pool work exactly the same in the headset as they did in the 2013 mobile app.

Willy the AI social agent launched in late February 2026 via a Saga partnership. Willy operates on Instagram and X as an always-on companion that chats with fans, posts autonomously, and steers people toward downloads or in-game purchases, a bet Etermax framed around rising user-acquisition costs. It is clever marketing tech that does not help any player remember a single question.

“Willy can chat with users about any topic, not just game details, become a companion and post on his own and Etermax’s social accounts. He can guide any users interested in playing the game or purchasing Trivia Crack in-game assets or merch.” GamesBeat, February 24, 2026

The creator program, announced as Trivia Crack for Creators with a new influencer category Etermax calls “Curiosity Creators,” gives creators tools to build personalized trivia challenges for their audiences. In December 2025, Etermax also renamed Trivia Crack 2 to Trivia Crack Retro, positioning it as the home of the classic experience. The Premium energy systems, covered in the previous section, round out the five.

Etermax was founded in Buenos Aires in 2009 and claims 150 million annual users in 30+ languages, with the trivia category lead in 125 countries (GamesBeat, 2024). When a game is that big and 13 years old, the rational growth bets are new hardware, new creator economies, and new monetization layers, and the business case for each pivot is real. But look at the buyer’s math. Twelve months of Trivia Crack Prime at $4.99 comes to $59.88, eleven cents from LearnClash’s $59.99 yearly Premium, and the $6.99 one-time Premium app still sells credit and right-answer packs on top. One of those two annual spends buys retention tracking, per-topic mastery, and a rank that measures skill. The other buys relief from ads and lives inside a 2013 wheel.

AI Strategy: Question Engine vs Social Agent

Both apps use AI in 2026, for opposite purposes. LearnClash AI generates questions on demand at three difficulty levels and runs the Clash Chat tutor that explains why you got an answer wrong. Trivia Crack AI mostly lives outside the game: Willy as an autonomous social-media character, plus an AI quiz-creation tool inside the Premium app.

Split infographic comparing Etermax AI strategy (Willy social media chatbot on Instagram and X via Saga partnership, plus UGC quiz creation tool for Premium users) versus LearnClash AI strategy (question generator producing items at easy, medium, and hard difficulty across infinite topics, plus Clash Chat AI tutor explaining wrong answers) Same AI tech, opposite product philosophies: Etermax aims AI at social-media presence and creator-tool monetization; LearnClash aims AI at the player’s learning loop.

LearnClash AITrivia Crack AI
Where it runsInside the gameOutside the game (social) plus Premium creator tool
Primary jobGenerate questions and explain wrong answersSocial presence (Willy) and UGC content creation
Player benefitRetention, faster learning, fact-checked questionsMore marketing reach for Etermax
Cost to userFree tier (30 intro chats, then 1/day), Premium expanded$6.99 Premium app for the AI creator tool

LearnClash AI does two jobs. Inside the game it generates the question pool: you search any topic, and the engine produces fact-checked items at easy, medium, and hard calibrated to your ELO. Inside the chat, the Clash mascot fields the follow-ups. Ask “why isn’t the answer 1990?” or “what’s the difference between vellum and parchment?” and the tutor explains, links the topic back to your library, and feeds the question into your review loop. That post-answer surface is where the learning compounds.

Trivia Crack AI points two different directions. Willy, the Saga-built character agent, lives on Instagram and X, talks to fans, posts content autonomously, and routes people toward downloads or in-game purchases. The second direction is the AI quiz creator inside the Premium app, whose store listing touts “AI-powered quiz creation” for paying users (checked August 12, 2026). Both are competently built, and Willy in particular is a genuinely novel user-acquisition play. Neither one is pointed at the player’s memory.

Daily Engagement: Quests, Streaks, and AI Tutor

LearnClash keeps you coming back daily with features built around learning, not just habit loops. Daily quests set simple goals (win duels, master questions in Solo Mode) and reward experience points up the quest chain, and friend quests let you team up toward shared goals.

LearnClash daily engagement: daily quests, friend quests, streak freeze, AI tutor Clash vs Trivia Crack with weekly challenges only and no quests, streaks, or AI tutor LearnClash offers daily quests, cooperative friend quests, streak protection, and an AI tutor, while Trivia Crack has weekly challenges only.

Streaks track days played in a row, and a streak freeze can save your chain when you miss a day: free accounts hold one, Premium holds three. The Clash tutor keeps studying conversational rather than a flashcard grind. Topic-locked duels let you challenge a friend on just one subject; a football trivia showdown is a popular place to start. Trivia Crack offers weekly challenges, but there are no daily quests, no cooperative quests, no streak protection, and no tutor inside the game. Play, spin, collect crowns, repeat.

What Reviewers Say: LearnClash and Trivia Crack

Store ratings are a headcount. An editorial review is what you get when one person sits with an app long enough to form a real judgment. As of August 12, 2026, here is where both stand.

LearnClash holds a certified editorial review from the Educational App Store, published July 2026 with a 5.0/5 score and Educational App Store Certification. A second, tougher assessment comes from Spieleratgeber-NRW, a state-funded German games-pedagogy body. Its July 15, 2026 review is mixed, and we cite it that way: it sets a pedagogical age recommendation of 12+, highlights the any-topic question generation, the explanation shown after a wrong answer, and the spaced-repetition solo practice, then criticizes recurring errors in the German AI-generated questions and answers plus pushy subscription prompts, concluding the app does not work as a classical learning app. That criticism is fair input, and both points are active work on our side. On crowd ratings LearnClash is still early: 5.0/5 on the US App Store from a small sample (8 ratings as of August 12, 2026), with Google Play numbers not yet meaningful.

Trivia Crack is the mirror image: enormous crowd numbers and thin current editorial coverage. The flagship holds 4.6 from 747K ratings on the US App Store and roughly 4.5 from more than 7 million ratings in a 100M+ download bracket on Google Play (checked August 12, 2026), while the most detailed current third-party assessment of its Premium tier is the sentiment-intel reporting covered above.

Who Should Choose LearnClash?

Pick LearnClash if you want to get smarter while competing. It pairs quiz duels with real learning tools: ELO rankings, any-topic play, and 3-stage spaced repetition that tracks your growth over time.

LearnClash persona illustration showing a confident learner surrounded by feature badges: ad-free, ELO Iron to Phoenix, any topic, deep stats, daily quests, Clash AI tutor, with Clash mascot giving thumbs up LearnClash is built for players who want to learn and climb a real skill ladder at the same time.

Choose LearnClash if you:

  • Want a fully ad-free quiz (no ads, even on the free tier)
  • Want zero energy gates and free daily duels
  • Want to learn and retain with 3-stage spaced repetition in every mode
  • Enjoy ranked play with a clear ELO system (Iron to Phoenix)
  • Want questions on any topic at every difficulty
  • Care about deep stats: per-topic accuracy, win record, head-to-head
  • Like to challenge friends on a single topic with shareable duel links
  • Want an in-game AI tutor that explains answers and chats on any topic
  • Enjoy daily quests and friend quests

LearnClash shines for students, curious minds, and competitive types. If you’ve used Anki or Quizlet, the spaced repetition will feel familiar; the difference is that you also face real opponents in ranked duels.

Who Should Choose Trivia Crack?

Pick Trivia Crack over LearnClash if you want casual fun with no rankings, no study tools, and no pressure. It has a player base built on 600 million+ downloads, the familiar six-category format, and the simple joy of collecting crowns, and for quick low-stakes trivia with friends it still delivers.

Trivia Crack persona illustration showing a casual player relaxing on a couch with phone, surrounded by feature badges: six categories, crown wheel, web play, huge player base, no rankings, no SRS Trivia Crack fits players who want a familiar party quiz with friends, not a skill climb.

Choose Trivia Crack if you:

  • Prefer casual trivia with a classic six-category format
  • Want to play on the web or in VR, not just mobile
  • Like to submit your own questions to a shared pool
  • Want a larger existing player base for matchmaking
  • Don’t need study tools, progress tracking, or retention features
  • Enjoy the luck of a wheel spin
  • Want a brand with 13 years of history behind it

One caveat for August 2026: if you’re tempted by the $6.99 Premium app, wait. Marlvel’s sentiment reporting (refreshed July 29, 2026) documents energy-system mechanics layered onto the paid product with a declining trajectory, and as of August 12, 2026 the Premium app’s store listing still sells credit, coin, and right-answer packs on top of the purchase price. Stick to the free tier, or wait until Etermax pulls back the energy gates.

The Bottom Line

LearnClash and Trivia Crack serve different players. LearnClash is a learning-first quiz app: any-topic questions, ELO rank, 3-stage spaced repetition in every mode, deep stats, and an in-game AI tutor, built for players who want to get smarter while they compete. Trivia Crack is a fun-first trivia game with a huge player base and a classic format, built for low-stakes fun, though the 2026 Premium energy gates have eroded that simple value proposition.

Decision tree showing 'Do you want to learn something new?' branching to LearnClash path (ELO duels, 3-stage spaced repetition, any topic, ad-free, no energy gates) or Trivia Crack path (crown wheel, 6 categories, 800M player base, skip Premium until 2026 energy gates are pulled), with bottom callout 'Each LearnClash round = 3 minutes' A simple pick: learning-first path to LearnClash, casual-first path to Trivia Crack free tier, skip the $6.99 Premium app in 2026.

If you want to learn something new while competing in ranked quiz duels on any topic, LearnClash is the clear choice, and a round is just three questions of play. If you want casual trivia with no pressure, Trivia Crack’s free tier still does that well. The $6.99 Premium app is harder to recommend in August 2026 than it was a year ago, and Etermax’s own sentiment numbers say why.

For how Trivia Crack stacks up against 10 other apps, see our 11 best trivia apps ranked for 2026, or browse 11 alternatives to Quizlet if flashcards are your thing. You can also see how LearnClash compares to Kahoot’s classroom format, QuizDuel’s 1v1 format, the now-defunct QuizUp, or the licensed Jeopardy app. For the broader Blooket alternative roundup, browse the games-like comparison.

Methodology

How we test

We use the tools we compare. That means installing the mobile apps on real iOS and Android devices, hosting test sessions in the browser tools, and joining from a second device as a participant, because free-tier limits usually show up on the join screen, not the marketing page.

Every number is dated. Prices, player caps, and plan names come from each vendor's own public pricing page or help center, read in a normal browser and recorded with the date we read them. When a claim cannot be re-verified on the vendor's site, we either date it to the last check that confirmed it or cut it. Quotes are verbatim from the cited page or they are not quotes. The last full re-check of every vendor claim on this page ran on August 12, 2026.

First-party data carries its export date. When we cite usage numbers from LearnClash itself, such as answer rates on specific questions, they come from dated production-database exports, and we put the export date and sample size next to the number.

Nobody pays to be here. No vendor has paid for placement or ranking in our comparisons, none sees a draft before publication, and there are no affiliate links in them. If that ever changes, this box will say so.

LearnClash is our own product. These comparisons are written by the person who builds it, which is a bias you should know about. We handle it in the open: our app is always labeled as ours, we do not stage tests designed to crown it, and every comparison names the situations where a competitor is the better pick. Read our app's entry as a founder's pitch with checkable numbers, and the rest as the dated re-checks they are.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is LearnClash better than Trivia Crack for learning?

LearnClash is designed for learning with 3-stage spaced repetition built into every game mode, duels and Solo Mode alike. Questions repeat at growing intervals (7 days, 90 days) until mastered. Trivia Crack is built for fun with no knowledge tracking or retention features.

Does LearnClash have more topics than Trivia Crack?

Yes. LearnClash lets you pick any topic you can imagine, from quantum physics to cooking techniques, with questions at easy, medium, and hard difficulty. Trivia Crack is limited to six fixed categories: Science, Entertainment, Art, Geography, Sports, and History.

Is LearnClash free to play?

LearnClash is free to download and play. The free tier includes free daily duels, all topics, ELO rankings, 3-stage spaced repetition, and zero ads with no energy gates. Premium ($7.99/month or $59.99/year, with a 7-day free trial on the annual plan) unlocks unlimited Solo sessions, expanded Clash Chat, advanced stats, and exclusive rewards.

How does LearnClash generate questions?

LearnClash uses AI to generate questions on demand for any topic you search. Each question is validated for accuracy before appearing in duels or Solo Mode. The system produces questions at three difficulty levels matched to your ELO.

What happened to Trivia Crack in 2026?

Etermax pivoted Trivia Crack to five moves between 2024 and 2026: VR on Meta Quest (Nov 2024), the Trivia Crack 2 rename to Trivia Crack Retro (Dec 2025), AI social agent Willy (Feb 2026), Premium-tier energy systems, and a creator program for influencer-driven trivia content. The flagship was renamed 'Trivia Crack: Brain Quiz Games' in the stores, but the core six-category crown wheel from 2013 stayed the same. None of the pivots added learning tools, spaced repetition, or skill-based ranking.

Does Trivia Crack Premium still have ads or energy limits?

Trivia Crack Premium ($6.99 upfront on iOS) is ad-free, but Marlvel's July 29, 2026 sentiment report documents energy-system mechanics layered onto the paid app, and the Premium app's own store listing sells credit, coin, and right-answer packs on top of the purchase price (checked August 12, 2026). LearnClash has zero ads on every tier and zero energy gates: the free tier ships free daily duels, all topics, ELO ranking, and 3-stage spaced repetition.

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